Probe finds the company selling entire produce to JSPL without agreement

Sarada Mines is in the dock for glaring violation of Rule 37 of Mineral Concession Rules (MCR)-1960. The lessee which holds lease of the Thakurani iron ore mines spread over 947.04 hectares in Keonjhar district has been found to sell its entire run of mine (ROM) produce to Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) without any agreement.

Patnaik Steel and Alloys, a subsidiary of Patnaik Minerals, the lease holder of Banachapani iron ore mine in Keonjhar district, has been found to have violated several forest and environment rules.

This is revealed from an enquiry conducted by the State Director of Mines into the issue. “The matter has been enquired into by officers of Directorate of Mines and basing on their report and verification, the following irregularities have been noticed along with other violations,” the state steel and mines department said while asking the state revenue and environment ministry to initiate action against the miner.

Global economic headwinds are likely to impact Odisha's economy with the state anticipating slide in its GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) growth for 2012-13 compared to previous years.

"We are expecting some decline in the state’s growth rate at the end of this fiscal owing to deceleration of Indian and world economy. So far, there is no impact of slow down on the state”, said Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, state minister for finance, public enterprises and excise.

When the anti-Posco brigade celebrated the seventh anniversary of their agitation against the mega steel venture of the South Korean behemoth at Dhinkia near Paradip in Odisha last week, the noise they made against the project was drowned by the murmurs of a split in their ranks.

After fighting against the project for the last seven years, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) seems to be disintegrating, with many of its supporters unhappy with the present functioning of the leadership.

The Odisha government on Tuesday assured top Posco India officials that the tripartite pact to enable renewal of lapsed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is in the final stage and is set to be executed soon.

The tripartite agreement will involve South Korean steel giant Posco, its fully owned subsidiary- Posco India and the state government. The pact is awaiting the nod of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The Odisha government has refused to abide by a clause of the Mineral Concession Rule (MCR), 1960, dealing with royalty charges on minerals, citing certain flaws in it.

According to Rule 64 B, sub-rule (1) of the MCR Rule 1960, the states can charge royalty on the minerals that has been processed within the leasehold area of a particular mine. But the Odisha government wants to collect royalty on the basis of mineral produced and not after it is processed within the mining lease area.

Investors may be offered 50% rebate on land cost besides other sops

Odisha, which is looking to diversify its investment basket beyond core metallurgical industries, has readied the draft of its proposed auto component policy to woo investors in the sector. With such policy already in vogue in peer states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Haryana and Karnataka, the Odisha government does not wish to miss out on the huge potential offered by the buoyant auto component sector.

The Odisha High Court on Monday refused to vacate its interim order of maintaining status quo with regard to construction of the power plant being set up by KVK Nilachal Power near Athagarh in Cuttack district.

Earlier, the construction work of the thermal power plant had come to a halt with the High Court imposing restrictions on it. The court today directed the National Board of Wildlife to decide on the application filed by the company within two weeks and send the report to the court, said Aditya Dash, counsel for the petitioner.

The Odisha government is planning to declare 13 more spots as eco-sensitive zones across the state.

“We have already declared three spots as eco-sensitive zones. The state government will soon come out with a notification to declare 13 more spots as eco-sensitive zones, probably within a day or two,” said minister of forest and environment on the sidelines of a seminar on livelihood issues of fisher women. Last May, the state government had declared the Chandaka-Dampada, Konark-Balukhand and Nandankanan Sanctuary as eco-sensitive Zones.

With mega steel investors in Odisha facing a litany of hurdles beginning from land acquisition to grant of mineral concession, the Union steel ministry has sought information on action taken by the state government to ease their problems.

The ministry will take stock of the concerns of steel investors ahead of the meeting of the inter-ministerial group to be held under the chairmanship of Union steel secretary on July 9 in New Delhi.